Hesse’s tenure at Sprint focused on improved customer service. In 2014, the American Customer Satisfaction Index recognized Sprint as the most improved U.S. company in overall customer satisfaction over the previous six years.[2]

He was also the spokesperson, as the voice in Sprint's "Simply Everything" commercials.

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Hesse's father was a career army officer and he spent his early years going from army base to army base attending 8 different schools between kindergarten in Italy before graduating Stuttgart American High School.

From 1991–1995 he was President and CEO of AT&T Network Systems International based in the Netherlands.

He launched the online division's AT&T Worldnet service in February 1996 which introduced unlimited internet dial up for $20/month as long as you subscribed to AT&T's long distance services.[6]

In May 1997 he became head of AT&T Wireless.[6] In 1998, Hesse oversaw the launch of the Digital One Rate plan offering simplified minute-bucket pricing to eliminate roaming and long-distance fees regardless of customer location.[7]

In June 2005 Hesse joined Sprint and oversaw the spinoff of its landline division into a separate public company– Embarq Corporation.[9] Hesse served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Embarq from May 2006 until December 2007.

Hesse joined Sprint as the company was experiencing financial and customer defection problems resulting from Nextel merger. He aimed to stem further losses by improving customer service. Hesse also oversaw an investment/ownership stake in WiMAX-provider Clearwire which created a national 4G wireless spectrum position. Retail stores were added across the nation to enhance in-person customer service as well. During his last two full calendar years as CEO, Sprint's total shareholder return, assuming reinvested dividends, ranked #1 among all S&P 500 companies.[11]